Monday, May 14, 2012

- The Green River Formation, a largely vacant area of mostly federal
land that covers the territory where Colorado, Utah and Wyoming come
together, contains about as much recoverable oil as all the rest the
world’s proven reserves combined, an auditor from the Government
Accountability Office told Congress on Thursday.

The GAO testimony
said that the federal government was in “a unique position to
influence the development of oil shale” because the Green River
deposits were mostly beneath federal land.

~~~~

It also noted that developing the oil would have an environmental
impact and pose “socioeconomic challenges,” that included bringing “a
sizable influx of workers who along with their families put additional
stress on local infrastructure” and “making planning for growth
difficult for local governments.”

“The Green River Formation--an assemblage of over 1,000 feet of
sedimentary rocks that lie beneath parts of Colorado, Utah, and
Wyoming--contains the world's largest deposits of oil shale,”Anu K.
Mittal, the GAO’s director of natural resources and environment said in
written testimony submitted to the House Science Subcommittee on Energy
and Environment.

“USGS estimates that the Green River Formation contains about 3
trillion barrels of oil, and about half of this may be recoverable,
depending on available technology and economic conditions,” Mittal
testified.

“The Rand Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, estimates
that 30 to 60 percent of the oil shale in the Green River Formation can
be recovered,” Mittal told the subcommittee. “At the midpoint of this
estimate, almost half of the 3 trillion barrels of oil would be
recoverable. This is an amount about equal to the entire world's proven
oil reserves.”

CLICK BELOW TO READ MORE

In her oral statement before the subcommittee, Mittal said that
developing the shale oil would create wealth and jobs for the country,
but also challenges for government.

“Being able to tap this vast amount of oil locked within this
formation will go a long way to help to meet our future demands for oil.
The U.S. Geological Survey, as you noted, estimates that the formation
contains about 3 trillion barrels of oil of which half may be
recoverable,” she said.

“As you can imagine having the technology to develop this vast energy
resource will lead to a number of important socioeconomic benefits
including the creation of jobs, increases in wealth and increases in tax
and royalty payments for federal and state governments,” she said.

“While large-scale oil-shale development offers socioeconomic
opportunities it also poses certain socioeconomic challenges that also
should not be overlooked,” she testified. “Oil shale development like
other extractive industries can bring a sizable influx of workers who
along with their families put additional stressed on local
infrastructure. Development from expansion of extractive industries has
historically followed a boom-and-bust cycle making planning for growth
difficult for local governments.”

In her written testimony, Mittal noted that three-fourths of the Green River shale oil is under federal land.

“The federal government is in a unique position to influence the
development of oil shale because nearly three-quarters of the oil shale
within the Green River Formation lies beneath federal lands managed by
the Department of the Interior’s (Interior) Bureau of Land Management
(BLM),” she testified.

The GAO also cited potential environmental impacts from producing oil
from the Green River shale that included the need to draw large
amounts of water, possible harm to water quality, and temporary
degradation of air quality and the clearing of large amounts of
vegetation.

"Developing oil shale and providing power for oil shale operations
and other activities will require large amounts of water and could have
significant impacts on the quality and quantity of surface and
groundwater resources," Mittal said in her written testimony. "In
addition, construction and mining activities during development can
temporarily degrade air quality in local areas. There can also be
long-term regional increases in air pollutants from oil shale processing
and the generation of additional electricity to power oil shale
development operations. Oil shale operations will also require the
clearing of large surface areas of topsoil and vegetation which can
affect wildlife habitat, and the withdrawal of large quantities of
surface water which could also negatively impact aquatic life."

MORE PICTURES DOWN BELOW

NEXT NEWS NETWORK ON FREE ZONE TV "WFZ" -TV" - "WFZR" - RADIO

CONTACT US BOX - TIP LINE - OR JUST SAY HELLO ?

NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK

A million seconds pass in 12 days.
A billion seconds pass in 31 years.
A trillion seconds pass in 31,688 years!
Please Enable Javascript for this Finance widget to work

ARCIVES OF ALL POST WAY DOWN BELOW..OR CLICK HOME (RECENT POST) YOU CAN SEARCH SUBJECT LEFT TOP.

CHECK DOWN BELOW

NEW-NEW-NEW-WATCHERS TV SERIES ON FREE ZONE MEDIA CENTER NEWS

WATCHERS EPISODE 4WATCHERS EPISODE 5
STAY TUNED FOR MORE EPISODE'S

Free Zone Media presents Dan Jablons "Don't Make Me Go to Home Depot"

PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME GO TO HOME DEPOT !

MUSIC - VICTOR BAILEY - JAZZ - STORY COMING ABOUT THIS MAN - EDITOR HERE, AND THE PASS,

VICTORY BAILEY JR IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS JAZZ BASSIST IN THE WORLD !
I KNEW HIM WHEN HE WOULD COME TO MY STUDIO WITH HIS FATHER MORRIS BAILEY, PRODUCER OF R&B MUSIC IN THE PHILLY AREA, VICTOR,YOU WOULD SIT OFF TO THE SIDE OR IN THE CORNER AND WATCH - HE WAS LEARNING - BOY, WAS HE LEARNING ! HE NAILED IT! I AM PROUD TO CONSIDER HIM A FRIEND TODAY ! I PRESENT TO YOU: VICTOR BAILEY - HE IS NOW A PROFESSOR OF MUSIC AT THE BERKLEE COLLAGE OF MUSIC IN BOSTON, MASS.

MUSIC AND WORDS

YOU HAVE ARRIVED AT THE FREE ZONE

Merle Haggard Song "I THINK I'LL JUST STAY HERE AND DRINK"

AFTER WATCHING THE NIGHTLY NEWS

CONUNTRY MUSIC: THE BEST OF CONWAY TWITTY

WH NOTE: I WAS RUNNING A THEATER IN BRANSON MISSOURI WHEN CONWAY DIED IN A HOSPITAL IN SPRINGFIELD MISSOURI;

NINA WILEY WRITER - EDITOR

Dr. Bill Smith (The Ozark Guru)

FREE ZONE FEEDJIT

NOTICE:

Comments by contributors or sources do not necessarily reflect the position of FREE ZONE MEDIA CENTER, its Officers, memberships or the Editors.

Fair Use: This site/blog may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as provided for in section Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law. Per said section, the material on this site/blog is distributed without profit to readers to view for the expressed purpose of viewing the included information for research, educational, or satirical purposes. Any person/entity seeking to use copyrighted material shared on this site/blog for purposes that go beyond "fair use," must obtain permission from the copyright owner.